Tag Archives | bkl racers

BKL Skiathlon Race Report 2025

By Liz Hollenbach on 13 January, 2025 in BKL Race Blog

Photos by Adam Popkin, Results and Thanks to Clover Whitham for writing this race report.

Mother Nature was smiling on the Mansfield Nordic Club Skiathlon, which was held Sunday at Sleepy Hollow on great snow under sunny skies.

It was all smiles with friends after the race for Rory, Bella, Hanna, Margo and Ophelia!

This is the “home” race for the club and proceeds support the MNC scholarship fund. It was also the first race of the season for many. Adults and Juniors (U20, U18 and U16s) raced in the morning before the Lollipopers kicked off the slate of Bill Koch races.

The Lollipop race is always a spectator favorite where the smallest racers of the day tackled some wild hills in the Sleepy Hollow fun park on the way to the finish line. Racers from around Vermont, including Craftsbury, Frost Mountain, Mad River Bill Koch and Sleepy Hollow BKL clubs, participated.

Next up were the eager Grade 1-2 racers who showed up to the start line ready to race many minutes early! MNC racers Nathaniel Schroeter, Johannes Hollenbach, Tanner Magnan and Grant Gillan, Margo Dillon, Claire Dolbec and Daisy Tremble flew off down the trail when the starter finally said “Go!” They skied a 1k loop around Molly’s Meadow and into the woods on Acadia Mania and returned on Potato Farmer to the fun park and finish.

There were a couple tangle ups in the mass start of the Grade 3-4 race but it didn’t stop these skiers! There were five MNC racers on the boys’ side – Rory Dillon, Rory Dolbec, Ollie Laber, Ronin White and Bodhi White – and two girls – Bella Altadonna, Nora Johnson. They skied in a crowd of 28 total racers for the first kids’ skiathlon race of the afternoon. They completed 1 classic and 1 skate lap, each 1 kilometer long. There were a lot of smiling faces flying by! Perhaps it was the promise of cookies made by volunteers at the finish line.

The racers in the Grade 5-6 race showed real grit and skill by finishing 4 laps (2 classic, 2 freestyle) for a total of 3.75 kilometers. This was also the first timed race of the Bill Koch races. Suiting up for MNC were Kaisa Weaver, Mazzy Merritt, Oliver Tremble, Finn Laber, Charlie Goosen and Jackson White. It looked like the ski exchange practice on Thursday paid off with smooth transitions and racers speeding back on the course.

Racers setup for the start of the Grade 5 + 6 race.

Sylas Weaver and Fiona Repp represented MNC in the Grade 7-8 race, which had 24 finishers from more than a half dozen clubs. These racers also completed 2 classic and 2 freestyle laps, for a total of 4 kilometers.

An honorary gold medal goes to former MNC coach Hanna Holm in her trademark cow in pink tutu costume for leading and keeping racers of all ages on the course!

Racers and their families made this another successful skiathlon! Special thanks to volunteers who made cookies for prizes, stocked the lunch table and monitored the transition zone and race course.

BKL Practice Week of 12/13/21

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 12 December, 2021 in BKL Training Schedule

The rain has melted all the snow and temps this week will be warm- highs in the 40’s. We will be back at Mills River Park with some fun dryland activities this week.

Tuesday: All BKL: Mills River Park, Rte. 15, Jericho 3:45- 4:45 pm.

If you did not pick up your ski rental, please get it today from Rosemary.

Bring your headlamp and your classic poles and wear your sneakers. We will play some games, do some hiking with poles, hill bounding with poles and make sure poles are adjusted properly.

Thursday: Jack Rabbits, Arctic Foxes, Racers: Mills River Park, 3:45-4:45 pm

If you ordered a rental race suit and did not get it yet, I will have it today.

More dryland training. Bring your headlamp and wear your running sneakers.

Saturday, 12/18: Racers at Craftsbury 10- 11:30 AM , Skate

If you skied at Craftsbury this past weekend, you know that it is worth the drive! Their 2 km man-made loop gives us the opportunity to practice a lot of technique and racing tactics!

Coach Rosemary is helping the MNC Juniors in Waterville this weekend, so Coach Peter Vile will be our guest Racer coach and ski with the Racers this day. Meet him outside the touring center on the upper soccer field.

For tickets or to get a day pass, go HERE. Check out their annual memberships too!

BKL Practice Week of 12/06/21

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 6 December, 2021 in BKL Training Schedule

With Monday’s rain, we have lost most of our snow. The Range is busy making snow but we are unsure if they have enough for us to ski on yet, and there is not much snow in the forecast this week. So, I planned dryland practices for this week. BE SURE YOU CHECK BACK TUESDAY & THURSDAY MORNINGS TO BE SURE PLANS HAVE NOT CHANGED! This time of year is a bit touch and go!

If you don’t know your child’s subgroup, find it HERE.

Tuesday, 12/07, All BKL, Dryland, Mill River Park, Rte. 15, Jericho- 3:45- 4:45 pm

We will meet the kids, play some name games, work on building our teams and play some soccer and other dryland activities.

Everyone should bring a headlamp and wear anything you have that is glow in the dark. We will be finishing in the dark, there are no lights in the park! Pick-up is earlier because of the dark.

Kids should wear sneakers they can run in. Kids should wear a parka over their “training clothes” because after some fun name games and ice breakers, we’ll be running around and we’ll really warm up.

Thursday, 12/09- Jack Rabbits, Arctic Foxes, Racers, Mill River Park, Jericho, 3:45-4:45

UPDATED 12/08

CLASSIC! No-wax rock skis if you have them.

Bring headlamps and throw your sneakers in the car, just in case.

We will be checking pole adjustments. PLEASE PUT YOUR CHILD”S NAME ON THEIR POLES. Duct tape, masking tape or painter’s tape work well. Lots of kids have the same kind of poles, so we really need poles labelled. Thanks!

Sunday, 12/12, Racers at Craftsbury, 1 PM, CLASSIC

We usually practice on Saturday mornings on weekends if there is not a race. However the weather for Saturday is an 80% chance of rain. The weather looks a lot better for Sunday, so we will plan to go on Sunday afternoon. Everyone will need a pass and if you don’t have a Craftsbury membership, passes are only $5 for students and you can get them online HERE.

12/07- There should be great classic tracks as the race that morning is classic, so let’s take advantage of it. Meet me at the MNC wax trailer in the lower parking lot (between Cedar Lodge and the new lodging cabins). We will wax skis there at 1 PM.

BKL Racer’s Practice 12/02 Cancelled, Saturday is On

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 1 December, 2021 in BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

The weather is calling for 41 degrees and rain for Thursday afternoon and the thin base of snow at Mill River park will be slush and dissappearing. Not a good day for our first day of practice! We will set our sights on Saturday! The details:

Saturday 12/04: Racers at Sleepy Hollow Ski Center, Huntington, 10:30-12, SKATE

Conditions at Sleepy have been pretty good. Buy your trail pass HERE.

Bring your rock skis in addition to your good skis if you have them. We will start off on the manmade loop but if the skiing elsewhere is decent enough, we may venture further and you might want to use rock skis.

BKL Practices Week of 12/15/2020

By Rosemary Shea-Cobb on 13 December, 2020 in BKL Race Blog

I hope some of the kids got out on snow this past week before the melt-down! This week will be back to seasonable cold temps but there is no snow in the forecast until the weekend. I have put together a number of Dryland and On-Snow options for all groups. In our area, Sleepy Hollow looks the most promising for on-snow time this week. They have a 300 meter loop and will be able to make and spread more snow this week. If you hear about snow in the mountains, be sure to check the MNC website for conditions at Bolton, which will probably be skiable again with just a few inches of snow. Otherwise, I’ve got some dryland activities for you: Playground Agility and a Nature Hunt for Jack Rabbits and Penguins and Strength BINGO, a Scavenger Hunt and a V-1 focus workout for Arctic Foxes and Racers (plus on-snow options in case you can get on snow). As always, please feel free to email me with questions and send me photos I can post! Enjoy!